MiCA Approved 10 Stablecoin Issuers But Misses Tether. Why?

EU just released their pick on ten firms that can issue stablecoins under the union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulatory framework. This shows that the union is still leading the world in terms of regulation but at the cost of tech innovation, competitiveness, and economic growth.  

Patrick Hansen, Senior Director of EU strategy and policy at the Circle, listed all the stable coin issuers. The list includes Stable Mint, StabIR, Societe Generale, Schuman Financial, Quantoz Payments, Membrane Finance, Fiat Republic, Crypto.Com, Circle, and Banking Circle.  

Why Was Tether Not There? 

The list is missing someone: Tether. At the time of writing, Tether was ranked as the largest stablecoin, and USDT had a market cap of 114 billion dollars. One has to question why Tether is missing from the list. Is the Union more focused on regulation than innovation and development? 

Global and US lawmakers have previously encouraged the EU regarding their regulatory framework for crypto. However, times have changed, and the EU has stopped evolving. The omission of Tether, one of the biggest stablecoin issuers, has not received any approval. This is a testament to the archaic stance the EU has in matters of digital asset  

An emissary for Tether gave an anonymous statement to Cointelegraph, saying, “It is disappointing to see the rushed actions brought on by statements which do little to clarify the basis for such moves. Not much has been done to fix the core issues.” Natalia Latka, who works for Merkle Science as a director of public policy and regulatory services, also shared her thoughts regarding Tether’s omission from the document. 

Latka did not mince words when she remarked that the extreme measures proposed in MiCA regulations might cut off Europe’s digital asset economy from the rest of the world. This might even scare off foreign investors and companies and doom the system to slack.